Maryam Jafri
Maryam Jafri (American, 1972)
She lives and works in Copenaghen and New York.
For the past fifteen years she has worked across varied media including expanded sculpture, video, and photography, with a specific interest in questioning the cultural and visual representation of history, politics, and economy. Her practice is informed by a research-based, interdisciplinary process that draws upon diverse traditions from literature and theater to pop and conceptual art. Research topics ranging from the production of desire versus the production of goods (Avalon, 2011), the politics of food (Mouthfeel, 2014) to photo/text works focusing on the digitalization of the photographic image and its consequences for issues as diverse as cultural memory and copyright law (Getty vs. Ghana, Corbis vs. Mozambique, 2012) to sculptural installations focusing on the impact of graphic design, branding, and display on our everyday habits (Generic Corner, 2015, Product Recall: An Index of Innovation, 2014-2015).
Very often the research for one work leads to the starting point for another work in a different media, such as the sculptural installation Product Recall: An Index of Innovation (2014-2015) that grew out of initial research for my video Mouthfeel (2014). The two works stand independently of one another but also constitute a dialogue between themes, media, and approaches. Mouthfeel, in which she acts, direct, and write, harnesses the language of soap operas to probe global consumer culture. Product Recall: An Index of Innovation combines objects, texts, and photographs of failed products in a dark, pop-infused exploration of postwar American consumer culture. Her most recent work, Generic Corner (2015), focuses on another neglected aspect of American consumer culture – the once widespread, now mostly forgotten black and white generic items that graced supermarkets across the country in the late 1970s and 80s. Independence Day 1934-1975 (2009-ongoing) is fueled by her interest in questions of heritage and the archive, and the role of photography in the formation of national narratives during the process of decolonization in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Her works often bring together both found and original material, whether in installation or moving image formats. In her video Avalon (2011) staged scenes were combined with documentary footage to offer a meditation on the links between affect, labor, and commodity under contemporary global conditions.
Above all her interdisciplinary art practice is grounded in an engagement with the formal and conceptual qualities of each media, periods of extensive research and planning, and the mysterious but crucial role played by forces that lie outside deliberation and preparation such as accident, chance, and intuition.
Notable solo exhibitions include at Vanabbe, Eindhoven, Tabakalera, San Sebastian, Kunsthalle Basel, Betonsalon (Paris), Gasworks (London) and an upcoming solo show at Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver. Recent and upcoming biennials include Sao Paolo Biennial, Venice Biennial (Belgian Pavilion), Manifesta 9, Shanghai, Taipei, Bucharest, Thessaloniki, and Quebec City Biennials among others. Recent group exhibitions include “Fassbinder & Contemporary Video Art” at Martin Gropius Bau, “Past is Present: Murals” at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and “Meepting Points 9” at Beirut Art Center. ” My work has been reviewed in Art Forum, Frieze, Mousse, Camera Austria, Art Papers, Texte Zur Kunst, Kunstforum, and elsewhere.
Maryam Jafri vive e lavora a Copenhagen e New York.
Negli ultimi quindici anni ha operato utilizzando diversi media, tra cui la scultura espansa, il video e la fotografia, con un interesse specifico per la rappresentazione culturale e visiva della storia, della politica e dell‘economia. La sua pratica è basata sulla ricerca interdisciplinare che attinge dalle diverse tradizioni della letteratura, del teatro pop e dell’ arte concettuale. I temi della sua ricerca vanno dall‘ analisi del rapporto tra produzione del desiderio e alla produzione di beni (Avalon, 2011), alle politiche legate alla produzione del cibo (Mouthfeel, 2014) a opere fatte di foto/testi concentrandosi sulla digitalizzazione dell‘immagine fotografica e le sue conseguenze su diverse questioni culturali come la memoria e il diritto d‘autore (vs Ghana Getty, Corbis vs il Mozambico, 2012). Alcune installazioni scultoree si concentrano sull‘impatto del graphic design e del branding&nb sp; in relazione alle nostre abitudini di tutti i giorni (Generic Corner 2015 Product Recall : An Index of Innovation 2014 -2015).
Di recente il Van Abbemuseum di Eindhoven ha acquistato l‘installazione completa Generic Corner.
Tra le sue mostre personali recenti si segnalano Vanabbe, Eindhoven, Tabakalera, San Sebastian, Kunsthalle Basel, Bétonsalon (Parigi), Gasworks (Londra) e una prossima mostra personale alla Galleria d‘Arte Contemporanea di Vancouver. Ha partecipato a diverse Biennali tra cui: Biennale di San Paolo, Biennale di Venezia (Padiglione del Belgio), Manifesta 9, Shanghai, Taipei, Bucarest, Salonicco, e Quebec City. Una selezione di group show include "Fassbinder & Contemporary Video Art" al Martin-Gropius-Bau, "Il passato è presente: Murales" al Museum of Contemporary Art di Detroit, e "Meepting punti 9" presso il Beirut Art Center.
Numerosi articoli e testi critici sul lavoro di Maryam Jafri sono apparsi all’interno delle più importanti riviste internazionali di Arte contemporanea come Art Forum, Frieze, Mousse, Camera Austria, Art Papers, Texte Zur Kunst, Kunstforum.
BIO

Depression, 2017
wood, silicone feet, acupuncture needles, glass cupping equipment, photograph mounted on aluminium, egg carton, ambiental dimension - ambiental dimension

Muslim Buddha, 2017
wood, plush Buddha doll, apple computer screen cleaning cloth, acupuncture needles, crumpled up newspapers

Where We ́re At, 2017
wooden grid, books, vinyl, paper handout
485 × 254 cm

Generic corner, 2015
photographs, text panel, plinths, objects; installation dimensions variable

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Gerber, 2015
framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. I Hate, 2015
framed texts, photographs, objects

Mouthfeel, 2014
2k HD film, color, sound
21‘34‘‘

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Fact, 2014-2015
framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. PJ Squares, 2014-2015
framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Spalding, 2014-2015
framed texts, photographs, objects

Global Slum. Hospitals, 2012
ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Global Slum. Prisons, 2012
ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Global Slum. School, 2012
ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Versus series: Getty vs. Ghana, 2012-2015
Mixed media; 8 photographs + 4 framed texts

Versus series: Getty vs. Musée royal de l’Afrique Centrale vs. DR Congo, 2012-2015
Mixed media; 2 photographs + 1 framed text

Avalon, 2011
HD film, color, sound
11‘44‘‘

Death With Friends, 2010
single channel video, HD film, color, sound
9‘23‘‘

Independence Day 1934-1975, 2009-...
54 + black & white photos, each photo approximately about A5 size (14.8 x 21 cm), archival inkjet prints

Nogales, 2008
Lightbox, audio track, 3‘ 25‘‘
108 × 70 × 6 cm

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Freedom for the Arabs The Times (UK), 1917, 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Iran’s Nuclear Lies, Newsweek, 2005, 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Public Opinion-Panamanians Strongly Back US Move, New York Times, 1990, 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. The General Goes To Court, New York Times, 1990, 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. US Encouraged By Vietnam Vote, New York Times, 1967, 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

(title), 2006
27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper